Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Will NPR lose it’s federal funding over latest flap?

It seems everyone is getting “pranked” these days. People haven’t stopped laughing at Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s candid conversation with (what he thought was) David Koch (Conservative agenda funder extraordinaire).

Now, on the heel’s of that embarrassment we have a an ex-NPR executive, Ron Schiller, on video saying the organization doesn’t need Federal funding. He too, was pranked (or whatever you want to call it) -this time by a Conservative gadfly, James O'Keefe, who secretly taped a conversation which was part of a “sting” operation to discredit NPR.

Vivian Schiller, NPR chief, resigns amid 'tea party' video fallout

“The resignation comes at a dicey time for NPR. On Tuesday, a video featuring former NPR executive Ron Schiller (no relation) came to light. In the video, the work of conservative activist James O'Keefe, Schiller is heard demeaning tea party supporters as racists and "gun-toting" Christian fundamentalists who had "hijacked" the Republican Party. Schiller also said that NPR would be "better off in the long run" without federal support.”

Talk about bad timing. Oh wait…there nothing accidental about this expose…so maybe I ought to say “good timing” on someone’s part. Can you guess who?

“NPR is embroiled in a battle on Capitol Hill with Republicans who want to eliminate all federal funding for the publicly supported media network. The Ron Schiller video gave new momentum to that effort, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) saying Tuesday that the video "clearly highlights the fact that public broadcasting doesn't need taxpayer funding to thrive, and I hope that admission will lead to a bipartisan consensus to end these unnecessary federal subsidies."

Congressional Committee looks into 'Islamic radicalization' by American Muslims

Image: Pro-Muslim rally in Times Square

Inquiry by congressional committee looks like inquisition to many Muslims

"By framing his hearings as an investigation of the American Muslim community, the implication is that we should be suspicious of our Muslim neighbors, co-workers or classmates solely on the basis of their religion," Rep. Michael Honda, D-Calif., wrote in a Feb. 28 op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle.   FULL STORY 

PHOTO - Demonstrators attend the "Today, I Am A Muslim, Too" rally in New York City's Times Square on Sunday to show their opposition to congressional hearings on the danger posed by radical Muslims in the U.S

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Hacker group vows 'cyberwar' on US government, business

Actions to retaliate for treatment of WikiLeaks, Manning, spokesman for Anonymous says

A leader of the computer hackers group known as Anonymous is threatening new attacks on major U.S. corporations and government officials as part of at an escalating “cyberwar” against the citadels of American power.

“It’s a guerilla cyberwar — that’s  what I call it,” said Barrett Brown, 29,  who calls himself a senior strategist and “propagandist” for Anonymous. He added: “It’s sort of an unconventional, asymmetrical act of warfare that we’ve involved in. And we didn’t necessarily start it. I mean, this fire has been burning.”

A defiant and cocky 29-year-old college dropout, Brown was cavalier about accusations that the group is violating federal laws. He insisted that Anonymous members are only policing corporate and governmental wrongdoing — as its members define it.

Breaking laws, but 'ethically'
“Our people break laws, just like all people break laws,” he added. “When we break laws, we do it in the service of civil disobedience. We do so ethically. We do it against targets that have asked for it.” 

And those targets are apparently only growing in number. Angered over the treatment of Bradley Manning, the Army private who is accused of leaking classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks and who is currently being held in solitary confinement at a military brig in Quantico, Va., Brown says the group is planning new computer attacks targeting government officials involved in his case.

FULL STORY

Kaspar the friendly robot teaches autistic kids about emotions

“Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact — and now she hugs everyone.

The girl attends a pre-school for autistic children in Stevenage, north of London, where researchers bring in a human-looking, child-sized robot once a week for a supervised session. The children, whose autism ranges from mild to severe, play with the robot for up to 10 minutes alongside a scientist who controls the robot with a remote control.” Full Story and More Photos

Is This Uncanny Valley-Scaling Robot Proof Of Our Impending Demise?

I don’t know why the inventor had to call his robot a Geminoid when anyone can see it’s an Humanoid!

Sweet merciful fates: this is a robot. Called a Geminoid, these things came into fame with an early version in 2005 by Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro of ATR. This new version seems completely revamped and updated and, more interesting, this is the first Geminoid from outside of Japan.

This new Geminoid comes from Aalborg University in Denmark and is considerably less complex – but much more realistic – than Ishiguro’s original model. This one, called Geminoid-DK, appears to really breathe and perform involuntary muscular reactions.

FULL STORY

Monday, March 7, 2011

After spending nearly 2,000 years apart, Lucius & Servilia finally reunited

Before Romeo and Juliet there was Lucius and Servilia…

“A married couple from Pompeii have been reunited with the recovery of a missing piece of a 2000-year-old marble puzzle made of several inscribed fragments.

Broken apart and buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the pieces belonged to a tomb inscription.

Although there are some other small pieces missing, the inscription is now legible and reads: "Lucius Catilius Pamphilus, freedman of Lucius, member of the Collinian tribe, for his wife Servilia, in a loving spirit."                                                             Full Story

Bill Introduced to Benefit Blue Water Veterans

Rep. Bob Filner (Calif.), ranking of the House Veterans Affairs (VA) Committee, introduced a measure (H.R. 812) that would authorize VA medical care to veterans and retirees exposed to toxins during the Vietnam era.

If enacted, veterans who served in the surrounding waters off the coast of Vietnam and in the skies above will be allowed file claims for exposure to Agent Orange. (The VA currently only acknowledges service-connection for vets who served within the borders of Vietnam or on the inland waterways.) Members are urged to use the FRA Action Center to ask their representative to co-sponsor this important legislation.

Hot Topic: Were you exposed to Agent Orange during your tour as a member of the “blue water” Navy or Coast Guard? Click here to share your experiences.

Source

The Dead Soldiers Ignored by Our Celebrity Obsessed Media

Spc. Jason M. Weaver will not be appearing on the Howard Stern show…

Insurgents attacked Spc. Jason M. Weaver's unit in the Kandahar province on March 3. An improvised explosive device killed the 22-year-old, who had been deployed for the first time

Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt will not be interviewed on the Today Show…

Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, a gay Minnesota man who went back in the closet to join the military, died Sunday while on patrol in Afghanistan when an IED exploded during an attack on his unit. He was 31.

Pfc. David R. Fahey Jr., will not speak with Piers Morgan

Pfc. David R. Fahey Jr., 23, of Norwalk, Conn., died Feb. 28, in Kandahar Province from wounds suffered when his unit was hit by an improvised explosive device, according to the Defense Department.

Army Specialist Rudolph R. Hizon will not be featured in a segment on 20/20…

Army Specialist Rudolph R. Hizon, 21, of Los Angeles, was killed Monday when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Logar province.

Sgt. Kristopher J. Gould will not be on Dateline NBC…

Gould, 25, of Frankenlust Township, died in the Ghazni province of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Daren Hidalgo (pictured above) will not get more than 1 million Twitter followers in 24 hours.

Flags will be flown at half-staff on Wednesday in honor of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Daren Hidalgo, 24, a former Wisconsin resident who was killed in Afghanistan on Feb. 20.

Spc. Brian Tabada will not be a call-in guest on any radio shows…

The U.S. Army says 21-year-old Spc. Brian Tabada of Las Vegas, Nev., died Feb. 27 in Konar province

None of the dead U.S. soldiers above received a glance from the national media. A national media entranced by a celebrity drug-addict that abuses women. A national media that is stumbling over itself to allow Charlie Sheen to spout any type of trivial nonsense he so pleases to an eager citizenry.

None of the dead soldiers above made a sitcom. All these young men did was give their lives for their country. Which makes Sheen's new motto of "winning" seem all the more pathetic. And should make all of us feel as though we are losing our soul.

Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

By William K. Wolfrum | Sourced from Dagblog

Posted at March 6, 2011, 9:19 am

 

Beware: Doing good at work can sometimes get you fired

Image: A Walmart Supercenter

There was public outrage recently when four employees at a Walmart store in Utah lost their jobs for safely disarming a gun-toting shoplifter.

Walmart could care less about what the public thinks, and adheres to strict rules that protect their liability (bottom line), but not their employees lives.

“What if, after following policy, the perpetrator doesn’t run off with the loot, but instead points a gun at someone back and continues to speak in a threatening tone? At what point may they aggressively defend their own lives? According to Walmart’s policy, never.” Full Story

Sunday, March 6, 2011

As It Stands: Word struck? Don't let it bother you, there's probably a good reason

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 03/06/2011 01:30:25 AM PST

Have you ever been struck speechless? Momentarily stunned by a comment or something you saw? At a complete loss of words? Tongue-tied? I have. On my first date in junior high. It was really pathetic. I searched for words to impress my date and made croaking sounds that scared her instead!

The first time I had to stand up in front of a class to make a speech, I lost my voice. I stood, pointed at a chart and coughed. And coughed. Words barely discernible as human came out of my mouth, mocking my efforts at communication. The teacher took pity on me, pretended I made sense and gave me a passing grade.

I once saw a little Vietnamese boy carrying a lizard so big he had it wrapped around his neck. He held the writhing snout with a calm ease born from experience. The lizard looked like a miniature Godzilla to my inexperienced Western eyes.

There we stood in a rice field. The boy was in a hurry to get home but willing to stop and chat if he could “souvenir” something off me or one of the other guys in the platoon. I pointed at the squirming lizard and held my hands up in the universal gesture of a question. The boy smiled and said “Numba one chop chop!”

I smiled back and tried not to gag. I really didn't have a thing to say. I'd recently tried a local fish-head stew that smelled so bad I stuffed my nose with Vicks vapor rub in order to eat it.

 When I think about it, I've been wordless many times in my life:

 “Where have you been all night young man?”

No response.

“Who said you could take that last piece of pie?”

No response.

“What were you thinking?”

No response.

You get the idea. It's pretty common to be at a loss for words. I've given this a lot of deep thought (about five fully focused minutes), and I think it's a survival instinct. If you say nothing, it's better than saying the wrong thing. Think about it:

“Where have you been all night young man?”

“None of your business...” This is where harm comes in.

“Who said you could take that last piece of pie?”

“Grandma ... she appeared to me in a vision ... .” This is where you get to stare at the wall for the rest of the afternoon.

“What were you thinking?”

“That I wanted to get fall-down stupid drunk and tell you ... .” This is where your mate locks the front door and lets you sleep it off on the front step.

Sometimes silence is golden. Or better than a truthful alternative. Then there are times when words can't describe what you're seeing. For example, when I watched each of my three sons enter this world, I was without words. My world tilted each time but no fine speech sprang forth to honor the birth.

No mere words could describe those moments of new life I shared with my wife. I saw my past and my future. Life and death often leave us speechless. The passing of my sister and brother, both so young, left me mute with misery each time. Words were dust in my mouth.

I used to have a friend whose mother always said, “Well, hush my mouth!” He'd tell her he got an A in a test at school and she'd squeal, “Well, hush my mouth!” happily. He'd describe a fight we witnessed and she'd say, “Well, hush my mouth” in awe at the description of carnage. I never understood that expression.

After 60 years of experiencing times when words were worthless or needless, I'm still amazed at how quickly they flee in times of stress, pressure or pleasure. For example, when you get a back rub and are asked if it feels good, words seem unnecessary and a contented sigh says everything!

As It Stands, the next time someone asks you if the “cat got your tongue?” just smile like the Cheshire cat in Alice and Wonderland, and don't answer.

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...